Unexpected
by bluebirdeyes
Summary: After completing an S-class mission, Lucy reacts to the generous reward in a way that no one expects — least of all herself. Nalu


**A/N: A quick oneshot of a NaLu headcanon/theory I have. While Happy and Gray are also present, this story is first and foremost about Natsu and Lucy, and an unusual moment that happens between the two.**

**I own nothing.**

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><p>"Natsu!" Lucy screamed as the monster roared back to life, throwing Natsu from its back like a ragdoll. He smashed against a tree and fell to the ground with a loud thud. She ran over to help him up.<p>

"Ow," he groaned, gripping his shoulder. He was still bleeding heavily from an earlier wound. If he didn't get checked out soon, he'd lose too much blood.

But Natsu seemed unconcerned, because he was back in a fighting stance in an instant. "It's up to us now, Lucy," he said, eyeing down the beast that was shaking itself alert. It had only passed out for a moment, but they had presumed it dead. Looks like their job wasn't quite finished yet.

"Gray needs medical attention fast," Lucy said, trying not to think about the sickening snap of her guildmate's leg that had rendered him unconscious. "And you're not in great shape either."

"I'm fine," Natsu said, dismissing her concern. "Let's just finish this guy off. He needs to stay down."

Lucy nodded. "Got it. Open the gate of the Lion, Leo!" In a flash of light, Loke appeared. "Open gate of the Bull, Taurus!"

"Hey, Lucy, slow down with the gates," Loke shouted, panicking. But both spirits were now present and armed for battle. Natsu needed all the support he could get; this monster was tough.

"Natsu, I'll distract it with my spirits while you go in for the kill. If you hit it where you knocked it out last time, that might do it. Looks like that's its weak spot."

"Got it," Natsu said, cracking his knuckles.

Lucy pulled out her whip, mustering the last reserves of her magical power to boost her spirits. "Go, now!"

Lucy ran forward, spirits at her side. All three attacked at once in different spots, drawing the beast's attention all over its body. It thrashed and flailed, unable to fend off all of them simultaneously. Then Lucy snagged her whip around one of its teeth, and with the help of Taurus's strength, pulled the monster's head toward the ground.

"Natsu!" she screamed, cueing his attack.

"Fire dragon's iron fist!" Natsu yelled, aiming a hard punch at the soft spot at the back of the monster's neck that was usually covered by protective armor, now exposed thanks to Lucy yanking on its mouth. Hit, the beast froze up and fell over once more. Knowing better than to let it revive itself a second time, Natsu plunged his hand into the monster's flesh and pulled out the source of its enhanced power, a glowing lacrima. Removed from the body, the lacrima's light gradually faded.

This time, the monster did not resurrect.

Relief washed over Lucy. That was the toughest monster they'd had to fight in ages. No wonder it was classified as an S-rank job. It might've gone faster if Erza wasn't too busy to join them. Wendy, too.

Their job done, Lucy thanked her spirits before sending them back to their own world. She collapsed to her knees, drained of all energy, both physical and magical.

"You okay, Lucy?" Natsu said, running over.

Lucy dusted herself off and stood up using Natsu's arm as a support. "Yeah, I'm fine. Gray?"

"He's breathing."

"Aye, sir," Happy confirmed, carrying Gray's limp body toward them. "He's out cold and his leg looks funny, but he's okay!"

Lucy kept her eyes away from Gray's broken leg. "Let's get back to the town quickly and get him some help."

"Too bad we couldn't bring Wendy with us," Natsu commented as Lucy pulled out bandages to wrap his arm. "Oh, thanks."

"This should keep you until we can get to a real doctor," Lucy said.

Natsu put an arm around Lucy's waist, propping her up. "And this should help you walk."

Lucy smiled warmly at her partner. "Thanks, Natsu."

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><p>Back in town, the townspeople were relieved to find their hired Fairy Tail mages alive and successful. Their town was saved from the monster's threat. Lucy wanted to join in on the festivities that were breaking out spontaneously in the street, but they had some injuries to take care of.<p>

"Where's a doctor?" she asked the nearest citizen.

The man pointed up the street. "There's one right over there on the left. It has a big sign out front. Can't miss it."

"Thanks," Lucy said. She gestured to Happy. "Come on, let's get Gray's leg fixed."

They found the doctor and were let in happily by some chattering townspeople who promised they'd be treated for free. "You saved our town, so of course we'll fix you up!" Lucy was grateful they could get things for free while it lasted; they'd fought in a forest, but _somebody_ had to own that land, and that somebody wouldn't be very happy when they discovered the destruction caused by the fight that took place.

Natsu had his wounds disinfected and re-wrapped, and Lucy was likewise patched up properly. They waited outside of the doctor's main room while he fixed up Gray's leg.

"Gah!" came a scream from inside, distinctively in Gray's voice. Lucy winced. That break had looked pretty painful, so setting it back in place wasn't going to be pretty. She covered her ears, not wanting to hear any more.

"Fairy Tail?" Lucy looked to the door and saw the mayor standing there. The mayor smiled upon recognizing them. "Ah, so you were here. I hope everyone is okay."

"We'll be fine," Lucy said. "The doctor is still tending to Gray, but the rest of us are fine."

"I didn't get hurt at all," Happy boasted, puffing his chest.

"That's because you didn't fight," Lucy pointed out.

"Hey, Happy did his best to help us," Natsu said.

"Yeah, Lucy," Happy chimed.

Lucy crossed her arms. "Ugh, whatever."

The mayor cleared her throat. "Well, I came to talk to you about your reward," she said.

Lucy gulped. The reward talk was never good. How much damage had they done this time? Ten thousand Jewels? A hundred thousand? More?

"Um, about that, I'm really sorry about all the destruction in the forest and around the town. We really tried to minimize it, but that monster—"

"Oh, I completely understand," the mayor said, stopping Lucy's apology. "All that damage is the monster's fault alone." Lucy let out a long breath. "That said, you guys _did_ cause quite a bit of property damage. What I'm talking about is before you guys even left to fight the monster."

Lucy glanced at Natsu. Oh. She'd forgotten about that fight he and Gray had at the beginning of their mission. After that epic battle, it seemed like so long ago.

"As you can imagine, the people working and living in that area need to rebuild. Instead of fining you or pressing charges, we will simply take the damage reparation costs out of your reward."

Lucy kept her hard gaze on Natsu, who continued to fake obliviousness. "And how much will that be?" she asked.

"Around 100,000 J," the mayor said.

Lucy's head whipped around to look at the mayor. 100,000? But the reward had been enormous, at ten million Jewels, so...

"That leaves you with 9,900,000 J as your reward. Come to town hall to collect it once your friend is finished with the doctor. We will meet again later." With that, the mayor left, discussion over.

Lucy slowly turned to look at Natsu. "Natsu."

"Yeah, Lucy?"

"9,900,000 J."

"Yeah."

"Split that in three."

"I can't do math."

"That's 3,300,000 J for each of us."

"What about me?" Happy piped up.

"You share with Natsu's part," Lucy said. "Don't try to argue. You didn't even fight."

Happy pouted. "Fine. But you better use your portion to buy me lots of fish when Natsu and I come over."

Lucy smiled. "Of course!"

"Does this cover your rent, Lucy?"

"I think so. Wait, let me do the math."

She squatted down and started to do division in the dust on the floor. If her rent was 70,000 J and her cut of the reward was 3,300,000 J...

She shot to her feet. Looked at Natsu. Looked down at her feet. Looked up again, speechless. That was four years' rent. Not four months, four _years. _She wouldn't have to worry about rent for nearly _four years_.

Natsu peered at her face. "Hey, Lucy, are you o—"

Lucy tackled him in a wide embrace, squeeling with glee as she clung with her arms around his shoulders. She set her feet back down on the ground, took his face into her hands, and pressed her lips to his.

Oh.

Was she kissing him right now? Yes, she was definitely kissing him right now.

Lucy pulled back a bit, her eyes slowly widening as she realized what she had done. Natsu's eyes fluttered open. They both stared at each other a moment.

Lucy spoke first. "Uhhh, I..."

"Doc, I think you gave me too much anesthetic."

Oh no. Lucy turned to see Gray and the doctor standing in the doorway, Gray's jaw ajar in shock.

"Uh, it's not what it looked like," Lucy said quickly, jumping away from Natsu.

Natsu seemed to be returning to reality. "Hey, uh, Lucy, why did you ki—"

"Ahhhhh!" Lucy shouted, stopping him from finishing his sentence. "Nothing happened! Nooooothing happened! Nothing to see here! I'm going to go take a walk. Yes. A walk. That is what I shall do. Bye!" She bolted to the door and slammed it shut behind her.

Outside, she hid with her back to the wall of the building, taking shallow breaths. That was the most embarrassing moment of her entire life. Probably. She wasn't actually sure, but at that moment, the humiliation was unbearable. She'd actually _kissed_ Natsu. In the heat of the moment, she _kissed_ him. And Gray had been watching. Happy's teasing she could withstand, but _Gray saw it._ She'd never live this down.

But despite her utter humiliation, she realized she was smiling. She didn't want to be smiling, but the corners of her lips tugged upwards against her will, and her fingers reached up to touch her lips where Natsu's had been.

Okay. Yeah, it was embarrassing, and yeah, she'd never live it down, but maybe it wasn't all bad. And if she ever had the chance to do it again, she thought that maybe she wouldn't mind after all. She and Natsu were okay. He was her best friend, but if people were going to assume they were more than that, she didn't mind in the least. The butterflies in her stomach told her that much.

The door opened and the boys all exited. Natsu was a bright shade of pink and refusing to look at her, Gray was smirking, and Happy was giggling behind his paws. Lucy blushed and turned her head. So embarrassing.

"So," Gray said, "I hear we have to go to town hall to pick up our reward." He was walking with a crutch, as his leg was in a cast, but he looked fine otherwise. Did he manage to get away without a concussion? Geez, these Fairy Tail men were tough.

"How much were you there for?" Lucy mumbled.

"I only saw the...uhh...yeah, but I could hear the mayor talking to you through the door. Looks like we'll be living in luxury after this."

Lucy's face lit up. "I know! I love S-class missions. But I'm kind of glad we won't need to go on another one after this for a while," she said with a laugh. "That was a really stressful fight."

"Are you kidding? That fight was awesome!" Natsu exclaimed. "I wanna find another one tomorrow and do that one."

"No," Lucy said with finality. "There is no way I am coming with you on another one of these, especially not so soon. I need my rest."

Natsu pouted. "Aww. Lucy's no fun."

"Yeah. You're boring, Lucy," Happy said.

"Shut up, cat. You're being a pest today."

Happy cried and flew to Natsu. "Wahhh Natsuuuu, Lucy's a meanieeee."

Natsu patted his exceed on the back, smiling a little. "There, there. Don't cry, little buddy. Go help Gray walk."

"Aye," Happy said, ears drooping as he went to support Gray.

Natsu turned to Lucy. "That was mean."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Well, Happy was mean, too. I definitely don't think you're boring." He reached over and took Lucy's hand, grinning. Lucy looked at their joined hands and blushed, turning away. Was he doing this because of their kiss just now? Either way, she realized she didn't mind at all.

Hesitantly, she interlocked their fingers, tightening their bond. "Yeah," she said, closing the gap between them as they walked. "Thanks."

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><p><strong>AN: It's a bit sloppy, but I hope it was still enjoyable. Thanks for reading!**


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